Tupiniquim Hostel

Tupiniquim Hostel is what you imagine a fun, quirky backpackers hostel to be. It has most of all the boxes ticked. It's got a decent location; fun, helpful staff; good music; pool table; kitchen; good food; cheap beer; climbing wall; record player; and Wi-Fi -- we are very impressed. Our only gripe is that the bed is a bit grotty -- the sheets were badly stained, although fresh, and the room wasn’t cleaned once in the week we were there.

The Location

Botafogo is a good location, centred between the party district of Lapa and within walkable (twenty minutes) distance of Copacabana. The hostel is close to a metro station and lies on major bus routes through the city. There are also numerous cabs at the end of the street, so accessibility isn’t a problem. There are juice bars and restaurants/pubs lining the main street a minute's walk from the hostel, although these are locals bars, not tourist places, which may or may not be what you are looking for.

Rooms and Bathrooms

There are four dorms and one or two private rooms -- they are quite small but have large storage lockers under the beds. The privates have lockable doors although the windows don’t lock -- however, it would be difficult to enter via the window as it is upstairs, overlooking the courtyard area. There are a number of private showers, some mixed, some only for girls/boys, spacious with hooks at the end. There are plenty of sinks and a few toilets. These areas are kept clean.

Common Spaces

There is a kitchen area for personal use, although there's no access to the fridge (it's for the staff to prepare the hostel meals) -- a large buffet breakfast is provided in the room consisting of bread, cheeses, hams, sausage, fruit, cakes, and juice. An optional buffet dinner, cooked by a local lady, can be purchased at a competitive price -- it is delicious and many backpackers raved about it.

The hostel has some outside seating, a central courtyard by the climbing wall with tables and chairs, a TV room with a huge selection of DVDs, a pool table area, a bean bag area, an internet room that also hosts the table football, the record player with numerous Brazilian Samba records, and the book exchange. They also manage to squeeze in a bar area and an air hockey table in this compact, quaint hostel.

Summary

Overall we are very impressed with this hostel, which is often fully booked -- for good reason. The staff are helpful, especially the young owner who is knowledgeable and multilingual. One of the few downfalls we found was that it could be quite difficult to order a drink at the bar because the staff are so busy. Also, an item of jewelry disappeared from our private room, which we suspect was taken by someone with access to the room. Further to this, someone knocked on the door late at night and bizarrely turned and walked away without explanation when they saw there was someone in -- so security might be an issue, although the front entrance to the hostel is locked at all times. Overall we would rate this as potentially an all-time favorite backpacker hostel.

— Exclusive Hostelz.com Review
April 2011